Many techniques have been utilized to prolong the shelf life of cut flowers stored in display cabinets. These techniques commonly utilize a combination of refrigeration and hydration to preserve the displayed flowers for as long as possible.
A common type of refrigerated display cabinet is disclosed in a patent issued to Kooy in 1984, U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,501. Kooy discloses a display cabinet in which flower boxes filled with cut flowers and water are cooled from below by placing them into openings in a table suspended above a refrigerated area. In addition to cooling the cut flowers by refrigerating the water in the flower boxes, Kooy's display cabinet subjects the flowers in the flower boxes to a descending flow of cold air.
Although Kooy's display cabinet prolongs the shelf life of flowers stored therein to a certain degree, it suffers from several disadvantages. For example, Kooy's display cabinet is not energy efficient because a significant amount of refrigerated air is allowed to escape to the outside environment through empty openings in the tables suspended above the refrigerated area. Kooy's display cabinet also wastes energy by applying the flow of descending cold air to the entire display area rather than directing it only to those openings in the tables which actually contain flower boxes.
Another type of refrigerated display cabinet is disclosed in the patent issued to Primoxic in 1990, U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,363. Primoxic discloses a floral display cabinet in which perforated cups containing cut flowers are submerged into tubular manifolds containing a supply of water. The flowers in each cup are subjected to a flow of descending cold air in a manner similar to that disclosed by Kooy. Unfortunately, the display cabinet disclosed by Primoxic suffers from the aforementioned disadvantages because it utilizes a similar flow of descending cold air to refrigerate the flowers stored in each cup.
An additional disadvantage common to the display cabinets disclosed by Kooy and Primoxic is that they are expensive and costly to operate because of their large size. Consequently, these types of display cabinets are not suited for smaller stores having a limited sales volume.
Two main concerns relative to flower sales are the cost of refrigerating the flowers and their effective saleable life span. Weighed against these concerns is the need to display the flowers in an appealing way, and preferably allowing the consumer access to the product.
Because large refrigeration units such as those disclosed by Kooy and Primoxic are expensive, they are generally purchased only by florists or other stores that have substantial flower sales. Similarly, because the life span of flowers is limited, most stores that would have only limited sales volume cannot afford to sell fresh cut flowers.
For these reasons, flowers are generally not carried in most local stores such as drug stores, convenient stores or the like. Accordingly, the purchase of flowers is generally based upon a particular event because the purchaser has to make a conscious and planned decision and then often go out of the way to make the purchase. Virtually unavailable in the flower industry is the profitable, multiple location, limited volume sales that occur at local stores such as those mentioned above. These types of stores sell a variety of items, many of which are often at or near the point of purchase and are impulse related. Relative to the flower industry, this method can produce significant total sales even though the sales at each store may be limited. In order to effectively accomplish this method of marketing, the store owner must have access to a relatively inexpensive refrigeration unit which will extend the saleable life span of fresh cut flowers beyond what is presently possible with similarly priced units. Only then can the sale of fresh cut flowers through local stores be really profitable.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a relatively inexpensive refrigeration unit for stores with varying sales volume.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a display cabinet that maximizes the shelf life of the flowers stored therein.
Another object of the invention is to provide a more energy efficient display cabinet by reducing the amount of refrigerated air lost to the outside environment and by applying the refrigerated air only to those areas of the display cabinet that actually contain flowers.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and drawings.